1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains generally to systems and methods for folding paper sheets, and more particularly to a folder ejector apparatus for high speed folding of a plurality of stacked or collated sheets or pages for envelope insertion wherein one or more of the plurality of sheets is longer than the others.
2. Description of the Background Art
Periodic billing operations, such as the preparation and mailing of monthly billing statements to customers, require quick and efficient preparation and processing of large numbers of statements. Such billing statements each generally include a plurality of pages, sheets, or forms which must be printed, separated, organized, collated, folded, and inserted into envelopes.
Generally, each billing statement includes at least one page or form which is of greater length than the other pages in the statement. In one standard billing format, for example, the first or outer page of the billing statement is printed on an 8.5" by 14" sheet, while the remaining, inner pages in the statement comprise 8.5" by 11" sheets. The longer form generally includes a detachable portion that is removed along a perforation or indentation line by the billing recipient to leave an 8.5" by 11" sheet which is retained by the recipient for record-keeping. The detached portion, together with a payment, is then returned by mail to the biller.
A variety of folding systems and devices for mail preparation are known and used for high speed folding of a plurality of sheets or pages in a manner suitable for subsequent envelope insertion. Typically, a mail or billing statement is folded in half or in thirds by a buckle folder or other conventional folding device to provide a folded statement suitable for insertion into standard billing envelopes.
An important drawback in the currently known folding systems and devices, however, is the inability to accurately fold statements containing a plurality of sheets with one or more sheets of greater length than the others, as in the aforementioned standard billing format. When such a statement has been folded once to produce a folded 8.5" by 5.5" packet, there are still an additional three inches of the longer, outer sheet or form that protrude out from the 8.5" by 5.5" folded packet and which must be folded in order to fit into the envelope. A conventional buckle folder, in folding such a billing statement, cannot reliably fold over the three inch long detachable portion or tab of the longer, outer sheet into the 8.5" by 5.5" folded statement or packet without also causing unwanted folding of the tips of the inner, shorter sheets. When a plurality of 8.5" by 11" inner, sheets and one or more longer, outer sheets are registered along their front edges during collation and folded over, the back edges of the inner 8.5" by 11" sheets tend to extend out slightly past the eleven inch mark of the longer outer sheet in a shingling effect. Thus, as the extra portion (typically three inches) of the longer, outer sheet is folded over by a conventional buckle folder, the tips of the inner sheets are also folded. The folded tips of the inner statement detract from the overall appearance of the statement, which can cause customer dissatisfaction. The folded tips also interfere with the envelope insertion operation for the billing statements, since the folded tips may catch or jam in the machinery associated with conventional high speed envelope insertion, causing system shutdown and delay while the jam is cleared.
Accordingly, there is a need for a folding apparatus which can fold a billing statement having one or more sheets which are longer than the others without folding the tips of the shorter sheets, which performs folding operations quickly and efficiently, and which avoids system shutdowns due to improperly folded statements. The present invention satisfies these needs, as well as others, and generally overcomes the deficiencies present in the background art.